


Take the Long Way Home

by QueSeraAwesome



Series: Domestic AU [11]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Gen, Road Trips, Unexpected Visitors, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Wanderlust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 22:05:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6257668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueSeraAwesome/pseuds/QueSeraAwesome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>North is no stranger to surprise visitors (not the way his sister is) but he really wasn't expecting this one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take the Long Way Home

Kellan shows up at his door with nothing but a backpack and a hopeful grin.

“Hey, North,” he says. “Surprise?”

“Your dads didn’t tell me you were coming to visit,” North says, stepping aside to let the younger man in. Because that’s what Kellan is. Twenty-four, freckled, still lanky and coltish-limbed. He might still be growing yet.

“Yeah,” Kellan says, grin gone rueful. “They don’t really know?”

North sends him a disapproving look, closes the door behind them.

“What do you mean they don’t really know?” he asks.

“Okay,” Kellan says. “They don’t know.”

North frowns, points a stern finger towards the kitchen.

“Go sit,” he says.

Kellan troops obligingly into the kitchen. He knows the way. He’s been to North’s house before, just not in a few years. North sighs a little, scrubbing a hand against his temples before following. He just knows this is going to be a bigger deal than a surprise visit. You gain a sixth sense for these kind of things when you have a sister like South, and the friends North has.

When he gets to the kitchen, Kellan’s taken off his backpack, shoved it under the table. He turns when he hears North approaching, and damn, North can remember when the kid had trouble reaching the freezer. No such trouble now, the kid’s grown like a weed, like one of the plants in his care.

“Coffee?” North asks.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Jesus, you’re tall,” North says. “You taller than your Papa yet?”

“By a half inch,” Kellan grins. “Pisses him off. Dad thinks it’s hilarious.”

“Sit already,” North insists, waving a hand. Kellan rolls his eyes but sits down at the kitchen table. “Okay,” North says, busying himself with coffee preparations. “Now, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Kellan says. “Okay, fine, stop looking at me like that.”

“I’m not looking at you like anything.”

“Seriously, cut it out. I’m getting to it.”

Kellan sighs, a quiet sound, a pause to gather his words. North waits.

“I’m going on a trip,” Kellan says. “You know how they used to do cross-country roadtrips in old North America? Or backpacking through Europe? Kinda like that. Just…Multi-planet.”

“Got a bit of wanderlust?” North asks. Kellan shrugs.

“You could put it that way.”

“How would _you_ put it?” North asks. Kellan scrunches up his face, avoids North’s eyes.

“I just need to get away,” he says. “For a bit. By myself.”

“Being alone’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” North says, studying him carefully.

“I know,” Kellan says. “I just. I want to find that out for myself. Anyway, yeah, they don’t know. Not yet. I figured I’d call them once I’m far enough away that Papa can’t come drag me home.”

“I won’t lie to them if they ask,” North says.

“Wouldn’t ask you to,” Kellan says, making to get to his feet. North puts a hand on his shoulder, forces him back down. Puts a cup of coffee in front of him. Kellan smiles gratefully, curves his palms around the warm ceramic.

“They won’t like it.”

“I’ve already had this argument with them,” Kellan says. “This isn’t some spur-of-the-moment thing, North. I’ve been thinking about this, talking about it for…well, for a while now.”

“It’s not their decision,” Kellan continues. “I’ve got the money. I just want to…I just want to get lost. You know?”

North doesn’t know. At least not now. But he thinks maybe he remembers, remembers what it’s like to be young and rootless, to want to run, or chase something. To want to drift. He’d gone and joined the military. He’s kind of glad Kellan isn’t.

“Alright, alright, kid,” North says. “You have to do what you have to do. But you should know they’ll worry.”

Kellan shrugs, but guilt bends his spine.

“I’ll call, and write,” he says. “They’ll know where I am. Most of the time. I just….need to do this. For me.”

North nods, finishes his coffee.

“My flight leaves in two days,” Kellan says. “Would it be okay if I crashed here until then?”

North snorts.

“You know you’re always welcome here, kiddo,” he says. “Guest room’s set up. Just let me get rid of all the rude post-it notes I left for South.”

“Nah,” Kellan says. “Leave ‘em. They’re funny.”

“Suit yourself,” North says. “Where are you going?”

“I got a ticket on a ship out to a forest-world,” Kellan says. “I think…I think I want to see some trees. I don’t really have much of a plan, other than that.”

Kellan puts his mug in the sink, and digs his backpack out from under the table, heads for the guest room.

“One more thing,” North says. Kellan pauses in the doorway. “When you do call them, and you should call them soon, make sure you tell them it isn’t about them.”

Kellan looks back at him, expression knowing and thoughtful. The kid was always too good at reading between the lines. North forces himself to meet his eyes

“You don’t want that kind of thing to fester,” North says. “Make sure they know it isn’t about them.”

“…I will,” Kellan says, voice quiet. “I’ll call them as soon as we touch ground.”

He retreats to the guest room to put his stuff down.

North sighs, runs a hand through his hair. He has a feeling about the amount of yelling about to come into his life. But Kellan’s twenty-four. Well old enough to make his own decisions. And mistakes. And choices.

North knows a little something about decisions, and mistakes and choices. For one, he’s learned that it rarely ends well when you try to make them for other people. And it probably took him longer than most to learn that sometimes, you just have to do what makes you happy.

Kellan’s a little luckier. He seems to have already figured that one out.


End file.
